The RNC's Thurgood Marshall Problem

June 30, 2010 9:46 am ET —
Walid Zafar

Back in May,
the Republican
National Committee and its chairman, Michael Steele, began attacking former
Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall (for whom Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan
clerked) for having suggested that the Constitution, "as originally drafted and
conceived," was "defective." Marshall, one
of the leading figures of the civil rights movement, observed that the
Constitution initially protected the institution of slavery. In attacking Kagan for having echoed Marshall's sentiment, Steele
and the RNC were essentially saying that the inclusion of slavery did not make
the Constitution defective, all for political gain.

At a time when
the base of the Republican Party is almost entirely comprised of whites,
particularly in the South, the RNC's race-baiting seems appalling. Interestingly, Steele, who was chastised earlier in the year
for saying that blacks had
no reason to vote Republican, has made outreach to minority communities a big
part of his tenure as head of the RNC. Attacking
Thurgood Marshall might fly at the country club, but it's surely not going to broaden
the shrinking base of the GOP.

What's worse,
as Mother
Jones pointed out yesterday, during his time in Maryland
politics, Steele was one of Marshall's
biggest admirers.

For instance, in July 2004, Steele
honored Marshall
as a barrier-shattering champion on the 40th anniversary of the 1964 Civil
Rights Act. Standing in front of a memorial statue of Marshall
near the Governor's Mansion in Baltimore,
Steele declared:
"Without the '64 act, I do not stand in the shadow of this giant."

In 2005, Steele helped christen the
state's largest airport "Baltimore-Washington
International Thurgood Marshall Airport." A year later, Steele
unveiled an exhibit at the airport honoring the judicial work of its namesake.
"It is particularly significant for our younger Marylanders, who may not
be familiar with [Marshall's]
legacy," Steele said at the 2006 ceremony. "He honored us by his
example, and we are proud to honor him in this small way."

Adding
to the irony, the RNC's website lists Brown
v. Board of Education as one of the Republican Party's greatest
accomplishments.

In 1954, the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled that racial segregation in public schools is
unconstitutional. The author of Brown
v. Board of Education was a Republican, Chief Justice Earl
Warren.

While
it was Warren who decided the case, it was the young Thurgood Marshall who argued
it and won it, thereby launching a career that culminated on the Supreme Court.

Also
interesting: the same Earl Warren, who the RNC proudly touts as a Republican
hero, had no prior judicial experience before being nominated to the Supreme
Court by President Eisenhower. The RNC
has gone after
Kagan for having no judicial experience.